CHRISTCHURCH: Pakistan Levels the series against Newziland with a solid maiden ODI century from Mohammad Hafeez, and monstrous assault in the death overs led by Shahid Afridi along with spirited performance in the field were features of a roaring comeback by Pakistan in the ODI series, which they leveled 1-1 with a 43-run win at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch.
Hafeez counter-attacked after Pakistan had been dented in their start and dropped anchor in the middle overs to set up a launching pad for Afridi and Umar Akmal to smash 126 runs in the last ten overs.
Faced with a stiff chase, New Zealand fought hard but timely breakthroughs meant they were always struggling to measure up to the asking rate, eventually leading to their downfall.
The greenish appearance of the track proved deceptive as the movement off the seam that Ross Taylor had banked on when opting to field proved negligible. At the same time, conditions weren't too easy for the batsmen early on either as the pitch played slow and low and the ball didn't come on.
